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| Bill Lacey and CS1 Norton |
-SG- Arthur Tyler was a works rider for Raleigh and Vincent during the early thirties and this 'private' (not 'press') photo come from his personal album - courtesy of his son Stuart Tyler and Paul Ingham.
It shows Bill Lacey - I assume taken at Montlhery - after his successful Hour Record foray in 1931 at 110 mph. Because Lacey helpfully stood behind the bike, one can see considerable detail; no brake pedal as such, just the brake arm extended; rear set footrests; twin float down draught carburettor; rather spindly hand change lever on the NS type Sturmey box. Lacey's track Nortons were all fitted with Druid ES forks (like the CJs and JEs but probably the larger size).
Regrettably, his very successful efforts with Nortons are rather overshadowed by his earlier and longer spell with Grindlay Peerless. He said, at a talk he gave back in the eighties which I attended, that he had a spate of con rod breakages with his Carroll engined bikes and the powers-that-were at the factory did not take kindly to his complaints about inaccurate machining or his suggestion that they could learn a thing or two in that area from the likes of Velocette and Sunbeam!